Above the Noise: My Story of Chasing Calm

NBA star DeRozan details his struggles with anger and depression in this vulnerable account. DeRozan grew up in 1990s Compton, Calif., where the funerals of slain friends and family members he frequently attended were often disrupted by gunfire. Pushed to excel by his father, DeRozan channeled his rage and sorrow into basketball. After playing one season at USC, he was selected by the Toronto Raptors in the 2009 draft. Despite his on-court achievements, he remained plagued by the “cycle of pain, fear, and forging onward” that he’d been stuck in since childhood. In 2018, he fired off a tweet about depression that received significant media attention, with responses pouring in from other athletes, including fellow NBA player Kevin Love, who credited DeRozan’s openness with helping him open up about his own anxiety and depression (“He saved my life, in a way”). Throughout this chronicle of his ups and downs, including his devastation at being traded by the Raptors in 2018, DeRozan remains a thoughtful and endearing narrator, and his central insight—that the roar of his fans will never make up for unprocessed trauma—resonates. Readers will be inspired. Agent: Rick Broadhead, Rick Broadhead & Assoc. (Sept.)